If you are facing challenges today, I want to encourage you with a statement I heard recently by Dr. Mark Chironna that I think you will find enlightening and intriguing:
‘Your present is not because of your past, but because of your future!’
Dr. Mark shared about a recent battle he had gone through that was particularly difficult, even though he has known and served the Lord for over 30 years. As he was questioning and searching for answers (God’s keys) for his deliverance the Holy Spirit spoke that phrase to him;
‘Your present is not because of your past, but because of your future!’
WOW! Think about that for a moment. As a Christian, the challenge you are facing right now, may be related to your past, but God intends it to prepare you for your future. He wasn’t saying that God sent the current situation, but that God will use it to prepare you for your future if you will keep your focus on Him and His plans (Jer. 29:11) instead of the problem(s). Think about Joseph’s famous critique of what had happened to him in Genesis 50:20:
New King James Version (NKJ)
20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
20 Even though you planned evil against me, God planned good to come out of it. This was to keep many people alive, as he is doing now.
Joseph had a dream many years earlier through which God communicated His destiny for him to be a ruler. Even in the difficult places Joseph found himself time after time, he would eventually rise to be a ‘ruler’ in each scenario. The Word of the Lord was coming to pass in each season of his life. We most commonly look at his ultimate role as ‘ruler second only to the Pharaoh of Egypt’ as the place where he became a ruler and the Word of the Lord came to pass in his life, but I challenge you to look at the story with new eyes. God’s Word was coming to pass in every season of Joseph’s life.
David is another example of his present preparing him for his future. Think of it this way; the lion was in his present because there was a bear for him to defeat in his future, the bear was in his present because there was a Goliath that God was preparing David to defeat in order to save a nation, Goliath was in David’s present because God had called David to be a conqueror of nations in his future!
Most of us look at the current circumstances through the filter of our past instead of thru the telescope of our future. From this ‘past filter’ we would look at David’s life challenges as a result of what he did or didn’t do in his past.
Have you looked at your current circumstances through the ‘past filter’ or through the vision of your future? I challenge you today to begin to ask the Lord to bring revelation (vision) concerning your future and allow God to use your present to prepare you for your future. Consider this scripture from the NIV and Message versions of the bible;
New International Version (NIV)
18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.
The Message (MSG)
18 If people can't see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.
One of the strategies of the enemy of our soul is to keep us looking back so that we will not proceed effectually into our God-ordained future!!! Turn the table on the enemy today; Begin to see your present in light of your future and the victories God has in store for you (1Cor. 2:9-10)!
May the Lord make His face shine upon you!
